Softball Performance Secrets Podcast #15 - In this podcast, Marc Dagenais explains the various stages of development a team goes through during the course of a season and how coaches should approach each of them to minimize problems and develop a successful team chemistry.
This blog post on softball pitching and how to increase pitching speed was inspired from reading the post on the same topic from my friend and colleague Ken Krause on his blog:
You see, it's a natural reaction for an athlete who want to generate more force or power to "flex" their muscles in hope of generating more speed or power.
While that makes sense to think that contracting more muscles will equate to more force or speed, it is actually the wrong approach.
You have to understand that a tensed muscle is actually a slow muscle. In other words, a muscle under tension is slower, not faster. It's just a physiological principle.
The same concept applies to pitching. For the best examples of that, you just have to observe some of the best pitchers in the world - a lot of them are doing some kind of pre-pitch routine or movement to help them stay loose. Lisa Fernandez was famous for her hoping on the mound a little with the goal of staying loose and tension-free.
They do this because they know that remaining loose and relax is the key to generating more speed and power.
You can also see evidence of this in other sports whether be in tennis or sprinting where athletes are trying to stay loose right before getting back into the action with the goal of being explosive and able to generate maximum speed and power.
So, if you want to generate more pitching speed, you have to learn how to stay loose while being explosive at the same time. It's subtle fine line.
The best way to describe is probably to say that you don't want to "force" your pitches.
I just ran across a story of a softball parent gone wild threatening an umpire and spitting at a police officer. This is sad - we don't need in the game. Yet, I presume it is far too common.
Here is the story:
"A Hanover Park man who threatened a youth softball umpire and spit on a deputy sheriff was sentenced today to 5 days in jail and ordered to take anger-management classes.
Michael Beck, 47, of the 1600 block of Arlington Drive in Hanover Park pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges of battery and assault and was sentenced by DuPage County Judge Peter Dockery to 5 days in the jail's work-release program."
I was at the gym today doing interval training on the treadmill (very effective method) and I saw two guys doing the famous "Bench Press".
The bench press is considered by many as one of the two king exercises in weight training with the squat.
While the bench press is an excellent upper body strength builder that uses many muscles, it is often abused and overused.
Men especially tend to fall in love with this exercise.
A few reasons to explain this:
1.Most men working out want to develop a stronger and bigger chest and this exercise is often seen as the best one to achieve that goal.
2.The bench press is considered the king of upper body exercises and excelling at it is perceived to be an evidence of your strength and power (i.e. being a man).
3. Bench pressing is the only upper body lifts in power lifting competition.
4. A typical question in gym environments is: "how much can you bench?" which pushes men to work extremely hard to improve their bench press.
All of these factors have contributed in making the bench press abused and overused.
It is an excellent exercise to build upper body strength but it also has its limitations.
An overuse of the bench press can set you up for injuries.
In particular, the bench press tends to put a lot of stress on the shoulder joint and very often, we hear stories of athletes who've gotten bad shoulder injuries by excessively using the bench press.
You know like me that once you get a shoulder injury, it takes months before it goes away!
While the bench press can be considered a functional strength exercise (an exercise that builds strength that you can use on the field), it is one of the least functional exercise because you are lying down on a bench in a fairly stable position using a bar.
The best time to use the bench press is when you do low-repetition sets (1-8 repetitions) with a heavy load.
When doing more repetitions per set (8 repetitions or more), you should choose alternative exercises that challenge the stability of your body a little more such as DB Presses (incline, flat, decline, on a stability ball, etc.) and a variety of push-ups (feet up, 1 leg, weight on your back, etc.) or standing cable presses.
I would not put too much emphasis on flies as they are an isolation exercise and for god's sake - stay away from chest press and pec deck machines! These are the worst for athletes!
Conclusion - the Bench Press is abused and overused because of the reason mentionned above. Yet, in my opinion, it remains a "fairly" functional exercise, especially for maximum strength phases (heavy load, low reps).
It has its place in a softball-specific program but shouldn't be used extensively either because it has been shown to lead to shoulder injuries.
Softball Performance Secrets Podcast #14 - In this podcast, Marc Dagenais discusses the history of softball. Fortunately for all the passionate of the game, softball history is very well documented and we have a clear understanding of its evolution over time.
Marc goes on to explain who invented softball, where and how the game started, how it has grown, etc. Sit down and relax while you learn more about where the game you love so much is coming from.
Would you like some softball coaching tips on how to coach female athletes?
In this video, I share some insights and lessons I have learned over the years coaching softball and more specifically, female athletes.
One of the important things I explain is how important the social aspect is for them and how you must adjust your coaching to take this into consideration and experience success coaching girls softball.
Feel free to leave your comments or share your own experiences.
The holidays are over. It's now time to get back to work to increase your strength, power, and speed for next season. To give you an incentive to get started NOW and to get you started with your own customized, softball-specific workout program - I am running a HUGE NEW YEAR special on my personalized program design service.
However, I can only accept 150 requests. That's all I have time for in the next few weeks. It's going to be on a first come, first serve basis until all 150 slots are taken. Last year, we received 237 requests so I expect the slots to go really quickly.
Right now, the service is at a huge discount. However, the price will increase by $10 every 2 days at midnight until all the slots are taken. This is to make sure YOU take action NOW and don't procrastinate! Hurry and get your own customized, softball-specific workout program!
Yet, a lot of softball players don't take it seriously know. They know that getting in good shape by doing softball conditioning would help their game but somehow they don't give it enough importance or focus.
My belief is that either lack the motivation to work out or they aren't sold enough to the idea of making softball conditioning a priority.
Here is a list of 20 reasons why you MUST make softball conditioning an important part of your training if you want to become the best you can be and dominate on the softball field.
When you follow a well-designed softball-specific conditioning program that uses the same advanced training techniques and innovative exercises that the best players in the world use, you will…
You will…
Reach, stretch and get more of those "oh-so-close" balls
Swing the bat harder and hit the ball further
Be mentally toughness
Get better jumps off the bases
Be much more confident and feel stronger
Run down more balls in the field
Get it faster when learning or refining a skill because of increased body awareness
Steal more bases
Stay healthy and avoid injuries
React faster
Pitch faster and throw harder
Develop an athletic body
Get more extra bases when running
Explode out of the batter's box
Recover faster between innings and games
Have more stamina for long games and tournaments
Practice longer without being tired or losing your focus
Be much more consistent and have less "ups and downs"
Tolerate heat better and perform when it's really hot
Be more dominant in all aspects of the game
I could come up with even more benefits but I think this list makes my point that you have to take softball conditioning seriously if you want to achieve elite performances on the field.
It used to be that being in shape for softball was an edge on your opponents but it ain't true anymore. Today, you have to be in great softball-specific shape to compete at the highest level. If you are out of shape, you are now at a disadvantage.
Softball conditioning is now an integral part of what serious and committed softball players do to get themselves ready to compete.
Softball Performance Secrets Podcast - In this podcast about softball conditioning, Marc Dagenais, softball peak performance coach, discusses lack of motivation to workout the biggest hurdle people face when it comes to softball conditioning and shares 12 tips to help people stay motivated and keep working out on a regular basis.
I just got my hands on a very interesting article that deals with overuse injures of softball pitchers. It was published in Training and Conditioning Magazine a few weeks ago. This is the official professional magazines of athletic trainers. These are the people that works with sports teams and take care of injured athletes.
Colleagues of mine who works with the Montreal Canadiens NHL Ice Hockey Club gave me a copy of the article.
The information presented is very important so I thought I would share with you the key messages contained in the article.
Here are the key messages:
- We assume that softball pitchers didn't have to worry about overuse injuries. That's not true.
- Recent studies have shown that the forces produces by the windmill pitching motion is similar to the baseball pitching motion and does take a toll on a softball pitcher's arm.
- Many studies conducted in the last few years have revealed that softball pitchers are subject to a high incidence of overuse injuries.
- Two main causes of chronic injuries in softball pitchers: poor mechanics and overuse. It's totally possible for a pitcher to never get injured if you do three things: (1) teach them proper pitching mechanics , (2) manage their use (pitching time) and recovery and (3) complete injury prevention training through softball-specific conditioning.
- Poor pitching mechanics can lead to injury even at young age.
- First thing you should work on with pitchers is to make a perfect circle with proper shoulder rotation. Most injuries are caused by an improper circle.
- Improper hip rotation has been shown to be another common cause of injury. The biggest flaw seen in pitchers is how their hips move when they release the ball.
- Lack of follow-through is also an important source of the stress on the shoulder and can also injuries.You also have to watch the follow-through on the various pitches as many causes very high levels of stress in the forearm, arm and shoulder.
- Another often overlooked factor is bad overhead throwing mechanics in pitchers - especially those playing another position. Often, this combines with a lot of underhand pitching leads to chronic injuries.
- You should keep count of pitches like they do in baseball. When reaching 100-120 pitches in a game, you should have your bullpen ready.
- You should NOT throw every day (practices or games). You should give at least a day or two off after a big weekend or a lot of pitching on the weekends.
- You should NOT overuse a pitcher every weekend (like pitching 3-4 games in a weekend). It's ok once or twice a year but doing it consistently will quickly wear down the shoulders and you are asking for trouble down the road.
- You also have to be careful with athletes playing other sports like volleyball or tennis for example where there is a lot of overhead motions. If this is the case, you should consider limiting the amount of pitching a bit to prevent injuries.
- Common overuse injuries in pitchers are in the rotator cuff and in the biceps.
- Signs and symptoms of overuse injuries: nagging pain, fatigue, decreased performance, change in mechanics, loss of velocity or control and changed in pitcher's attitude.
- Commonly diagnosed injuries: biceps tendonitis, rotator cuff strains, impingement syndrome (inflammation of rotator cuff tendons). Overuse injuries can also affect the lower back and the knees.
- You should differentiates normal soreness (temporary stiffness from doing work) and bad soreness (pain) that causes discomfort. Watch for pitchers' body language or facial expressions - these are good indicators of discomfort or injuries. Many athletes don't want to tell their coach because they don't want to be taken out of the line-up.
- Main treatment for overuse injuries: rest and proper treatment. if it is minor enough and you are in the middle of the season, just cut down on pitches and provide plenty of rest. You should also ice after every game or pitching practice.
- The use of anti-inflammatories is also recommended but should be done under the supervision a qualified medical professional.
- Doing exercises in a pool is recommended for good shoulder conditioning or rehab (make sure not to do too much swimming as it is hard on the shoulders).
- Massage is another element that can be integrated in a treatment or injury prevention plan. Make sure you work with a qualified and registered massage therapist. They can improve circulation, re-align the tissue, and enhance muscular relaxation, which promotes healing.
- Strength training is very important in preventing softball pitching injuries.
- Training the core is very important. The core is the lower part of the trunk musculature (hips, buttocks, abdominal, obliques, lower back, etc.). Lack of strength and flexibility in the core
often results in over-compensating and injuries show up elsewhere like in the shoulder.
- Almost every softball athlete has a deficient core.
- Single leg work help make pitchers stronger and is very sport- specific. Doing body-weight deadlifts with one leg, single-leg squats, and that type of exercises is highly beneficial.
- Tubing exercises is also very beneficial for strengthening the shoulder.
- Explosive strength is also something pitchers should work on because from the start of the pitching motion to release takes less than a second.
- Work with overweighted and underweighted balls is beneficial for injury prevention and gaining speed.
- There are traditional exercises you should avoid like overhead lifts. They are not really recommended for pitchers. Also, there should be less emphasis on bench press (don't eliminate entirely but do much less of it). There should be more focus on body- weight push-up variations.
- You should focus more on pulling exercises and do less pushing exercises (do more rows and less presses).
- References used for this articles can be found at: www.athleticsearch.com/softrefs
What I think
WOW.. that's a lot of powerful information. I agree 100% with everything in this article because I have been preaching a lot of it for years!
I have seen too many dominating young pitchers just disappear of the circulation due to overuse injuries. It starts slowly and over a few years, they completely disappear because they can't pitch anymore. I am sure you have seen plenty of those cases too.
I really want you to take action and think on the long-term health of yourself (if you are a pitcher) or your pitchers (coach or parents). There is no point at over-utilizing a pitcher if she won't be able to compete down the road due to overuse injuries.
